"Ninja Gaiden II" is a ninja's quest to stop massive legions of demons from destroying the world the old fashioned way: Hacking them to pieces. The game's breathtaking combat, friendly user interface and frantic action easily make it one of the best action games on Xbox 360.
The story of "Ninja Gaiden II" takes place before the original Nintendo games. Sonia, a CIA agent, seeks the help of Ryu Hayabusa to prevent the resurrection of a giant demon. The charm of the story comes from the fact that it's deliberately over the top. The cut scenes are simply brief pauses for the player to catch his or her breath between cutting down enough enemies to populate a small city.
Combat is reminiscent of the first "Kill Bill" movie - that is to say, extremely graphic. Quite literally every fight will involve dismemberment and a lot of blood; this is a game for the mature crowd. Even outside of combat, the game feels very versatile, allowing Ryu to wall jump, run across walls and run across water.
The first "Ninja Gaiden" game on the original Xbox was well known for its brutal difficulty, which has returned for the sequel. There are standard easy, normal, hard and very hard difficulty levels, but even easy presents a formidable challenge. The difficulty seems very fair in that you need to strategize, attack priority targets and use combos to take enemies down. The sheer number of enemies on screen and their surprisingly intelligent tactics will make every battle a challenge, but in a good way. Aside from a few moments where the difficulty goes over the top, it stays consistently challenging and when players die, they may find themselves devising strategies for the next fight.
Fortunately, Ryu has a slew of abilities he can use to combat his enemies. There are a wide variety of weapons to choose from, among them are eight melee weapons ranging from a single katana to ninja claws to a massive scythe. They're all suited for different types of battles, and they can be upgraded to unlock new combos. Magical "Ninpo" spells can also be used to hurl magic at your enemies for efficient kills, and ranged weapons are available. Health items can be picked up, and weapons, spells, and items can be easily accessed from a menu on the bottom screen, meaning the player does not have to pause every time he or she wants to switch weapons.
The game does suffer from the occasional technological glitch. One of the underground environments feels incomplete, and blood may land on an invisible ground if you kill them near a cliff or a ledge, which looks awkward. The game is generally smooth, although there's occasional slowdown when the screen gets busy with enemies.
"Ninja Gaiden II" is a fast-paced, gory game that will get adrenaline pumping. Anyone who enjoys hack-and-slash combat should put this on their radar, grab their weapon of choice and leap into the fray.
You can reach this staff writer at thescene@theeagleonline.com.
